The Spanish Grand Prix 2018 was the 5th round of the 2018 F1 season, and took place at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya in Montmeló, Spain, on May 13th.
Lewis Hamilton won the race from the pole, followed by Valtteri Bottas, and Max Verstappen completing the podium.
Final results
Race evolution
Pit Stops
There were a total of 21 pit stops during the race.
The most popular pit stop windows were:
- Laps 19-21: 4 stops
- Laps 24-26: 4 stops
- Laps 32-35: 6 stops
The fastest pit stop was Lance Stroll's, stopping the clock at 21.351 seconds during his pit stop on lap 20, while the slowest one was was Esteban Ocon's, who stopped the clock at 47.910 seconds, 26.559 seconds slower than Stroll, during his pit stop on lap 29.
These times include the time the driver spent going through the pit lane, as well as the actual time he stopped for the mechanics to work on his car.
Strategy
We saw a variety of options in terms of pit stop strategies during this race, however most drivers chose a 1 stop. Only 3 drivers tried a 2 stops, and 1 driver tried a 3 stops.
The race winner, Lewis Hamilton, was on a 1 stop strategy.
1 stop
-
-Valtteri Bottas
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4Charles Leclerc
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7Lance Stroll
-
-Fernando Alonso
-
-Lewis Hamilton
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2Carlos Sainz
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3Esteban Ocon
-
1Kevin Magnussen
-
1Daniel Ricciardo
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2Max Verstappen
-
4Stoffel Vandoorne
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4Marcus Ericsson
2 stops
-
8Brendon Hartley
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1Sebastian Vettel
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6Sergio Pérez
3 stops
-
5Sergey Sirotkin
Excluding those drivers who could not finish the race, those on a 1 stop strategy gained 2.1 positions on average, the ones on a 2 stops strategy gained 4.33 positions on average, while those on a 3 stops strategy gained 5 positions on average.
Despite of the average possitons gained or lost, and considering a deeper analysis of the performance of each strategy, we consider the 2 stops strategy as the optimal for this race, even if Lewis Hamilton managed to win the race making 1 stop.
It is important to note that this might not always be the case for other races held at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya, as the conditions might change from year to year, in terms of wheel degradation, accidents, safety cars, etc.
Incidents
There were some incidents during the race, with 6 drivers who didn't manage to cross the finish line.
These included, Stoffel Vandoorne, who experienced issues with the gearbox on lap 45, Esteban Ocon, who had an oil leak on lap 38, Kimi Räikkönen, who had a turbo failure on lap 25, and Romain Grosjean, Pierre Gasly, and Nico Hülkenberg, all of whom retired dure to damage caused by a collision with other cars.
Gearbox
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Stoffel VandoorneLap 45
Oil leak
-
Esteban OconLap 38
Turbo
-
Kimi RäikkönenLap 25
Collision
-
Romain GrosjeanLap 0
-
Pierre GaslyLap 0
-
Nico HülkenbergLap 0
Qualifying
Lewis Hamilton managed to get the pole position by 0.04 seconds and a final lipe time of 1:16.173. Valtteri Bottas was right behind him, helping Mercedes score a one-two and monopolize the first line of the grid.
The second line fo the grid was dominated by Ferrari, with Sebastian Vettel in third position, and Kimi Räikkönen in fourth.
But the team pairings didn't stop there, as the two Red Bulls were right behind them, with Max Verstappen in fith position, and Daniel Ricciardo in sixth.
Track evolution
As the qualifying session went on, with the track rubbering in, and the drivers testing the limits of the grip of their cars, the times per lap dropped, and 12 out of the 15 drivers that took place in Q2 were able to improve their times.
The Q3 is the time were all the remaining drivers put all their cards on the table, even those with a superior car who might have been managing their times in Q1 and Q2 push their cars to the limit in Q3. It therefore comes as no surprise that 8 out of the 10 drivers that took place in Q3 were able to improve their times.